


There Ain't a Cloud in Sight

by amine



Series: Gen X and Gen Z [5]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Family Fluff, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Plushies, Precious Peter Parker, Presents, Silly, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-07-15 14:52:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16065455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amine/pseuds/amine
Summary: "'Oh, god. Are you crying? I didn’t think you’d be that upset—'Before he could finish, Peter sniffled again and wiped at his eyes. 'I…I can’t believe…Tony Stark got me a present.'"Or: Five times Tony gave Peter something, and one time Peter returned the favor.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Confession: I'm tempted to turn this into one of those 5+1 things that's just about presents, but I'd need to come up with all five first lol.

Tony was used to seeing Avengers merchandise. He’d seen plenty of kids running around a park wearing an Iron Man mask or carrying a Captain America shield. He even saw grown adults wearing t-shirts that declared they were Team Iron Man or Team Cap or that “you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry” with Bruce in the middle of Hulking out. He himself would admit to occasionally buying something with Iron Man emblazoned across it.

Spider-Man merchandise was something that he hadn’t really seen around yet, with the kid still being a newbie to the superhero scene, which was why when he stumbled across a street vendor selling Avengers plushies, it was the Spider-Man plush that caught his attention. He almost didn’t notice it at first, since it was obscured by a plethora of Hulks and Thors and Black Widows, but then he’d seen a spider symbol and zeroed in on it.

When he actually had it in his hands, he literally laughed out loud. Compared to the spot-on plushies of the other Avengers, the Spider-Man in his hands was hilariously inaccurate. The spider symbol was in the wrong spot, instead of red it was orange, and it had eight black eyes like a real spider instead of the two white eyepieces that helped keep Peter from getting sensory overload. It even had a couple extra limbs sticking out beneath the regular arms.

In short, it was horrible and wonderful and Tony bought it without a second thought.

He was still laughing about it hours later when Happy brought Peter to the compound. He couldn’t wait to give it to Peter as a “gift” and they could both laugh at how the “orange literal spider” man had finally made it to the big time and had his own plushie.

As always, Peter was all smiles as he walked in the door and tossed his backpack to the side. 

“Hey, Mr. Stark!”

Tony was lounging on a couch and had to bite down the giddy grin that threatened to bubble up. He wanted to see Peter’s reaction first before he let his amusement show.

“Hey, kid. I got you something.” He gestured to the hastily wrapped lump on a nearby table, which Peter stared at before he turned to Tony with wide eyes and a comically open mouth.

“You…got _me_ something? It’s not even close to my birthday or Christmas or anything—”

“Never mind that, kid. Just open it.”

As Peter ripped into the wrapping, Tony grabbed his coffee cup and grinned into it. He waited for the laughter or the aghast babbling or some other reaction expressing Peter’s disbelief at the terrible Spider-Man representation.

What he wasn’t expecting was a sniffle.

He lowered the cup in alarm, and he turned to find Peter staring at the plushie with watery eyes. He knew it was bad, but he didn’t think it was _that_ bad.

“Oh, god. Are you crying? I didn’t think you’d be that upset—”

Before he could finish, Peter sniffled again and wiped at his eyes. “I…I can’t believe…Tony Stark got me a present.”

Well then. Tony really hadn’t been expecting _that_ reaction. He blinked at Peter before shaking his head. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I mean, you’ve given me the suits and you let me come here and hang out with you, but _this is a random present from Tony Stark_!”

Tony closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He’d really been hoping that, given all that they had been through and done together, they were past Peter’s starry-eyed hero worship at that point.

Clearly that wasn’t the case.

Exasperated, Tony threw his hands up before letting them fall to hit his thighs. “It doesn’t look anything like you! It’s orange! It has extra arms! You don’t have eight eyes!!”

Peter gave him a watery smile as his eyes glistened. “But you were thinking of me when you got it! Oh my god, I’m going to treasure this gift forever.”

Tony watched in disbelief as Peter clutched the plushie to himself and babbled about telling Ned and how great it was that _Tony Stark_ thought enough of him to buy him a present. 

Tony let his eyes roll back in his head as he closed them and fell back on the couch. He slapped a hand over his closed eyes and groaned.

Note to self, he thought, excitable teenagers were still excitable even when they were basically your surrogate kid.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is now officially a 5+1 fic. I was going to play this chapter straight, but then an idea came to me and I found it too hilarious to pass up.

Peter’s smile was wide enough to hurt as he waited for Ned to come over, and when he heard Ned talking to May in the hall, he leaned back on his bed enough that his t-shirt would definitely be visible. 

Ned came in to Peter’s room with a large storage box full of Legos and a nod of his head.

“Hey, Ned.” Peter smiled, waiting for his friend’s reaction to the shirt.

Ned just smiled and held up the box. “Hey, Peter. I know we talked about working on that Millennium Falcon set, but I figured we could build our own Rivendell out of Legos and get on YouTube… Well, _you’ve_ already been on YouTube, I guess, but this would be legit. I’ve got like 5,000 Legos here, which should be a good start—”

Peter’s smile faded and he shook his head. He sat up somewhat and waved his hands. “Ned!”

“What? You don’t like Rivendell? We could always do Minas Tirith or—”

“No, no, Ned, no. That’s not—I’m okay with Rivendell, I just—Did you not see my shirt?”

Ned finally looked him over with a scrutinizing gaze and then gave Peter a disbelieving look. 

“…it’s a cat shirt. Why do you have a cat shirt? Do you _want_ Flash to make your life even more miserable?”

It was a white shirt with a Siamese cat on it, which was just one of many cat shirts it turned out Mr. Stark owned. Not that Peter cared. The point was that it was Mr. Stark’s shirt. Peter ran a hand through his hair and stood up so the shirt was fully visible again.

“It’s not just any cat shirt. It’s _Mr. Stark’s_ cat shirt.”

It took a few moments of Ned blinking at him before it finally sunk in, and then Ned’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped at the same time as the box of Legos that exploded all over Peter’s bedroom floor. Peter made a mental note to stop revealing shocking revelations while Ned was holding a bunch of Legos.

“ _Tony Stark_ gave you one of his shirts?”

That was finally the reaction Peter had been hoping for, and he shrugged and smiled. “Well, I mean, we’re really close and all, you know, so it’s no big deal…”

“Does it smell like success?”

Peter’s head snapped up at that and his brow furrowed. “Does it—well, it _does_ smell like Mr. Stark, which I guess means success, but I mostly think it’s comforting—”

Ned closed the distance between them and clutched at his shoulders. “You gotta let me wear it.”

“What?! No! It’s mine!” Peter wrenched out of Ned’s grip and wrapped his arms around himself as though that would keep the shirt away from Ned.

“But we have that robotics test next week and if I wear that shirt maybe some of his success will rub off on me!”

“It’s mine, Ned!”

“How’d you even get it? Why a cat shirt?”

The smugness returned and Peter loosened his arms into a confident fold. “Well, yesterday I was working in Mr. Stark’s lab on improvements for my suit and there was kind of a fire that ruined the shirt I was wearing. Mr. Stark tossed me a shirt to replace it and it just happened to be this shirt.”

Ned narrowed his eyes and looked back and forth before slightly shaking his head. “So…He didn’t really give it to you. He just gave you something to wear in that moment.”

Peter’s smile slipped away and he slowly lowered his arms as reality began to sink in. Mr. Stark hadn’t really said he could keep it, just something like ‘here, wear this’ as he’d stared in horror at his charred shirt. “That’s…no, he definitely let me…I mean, he didn’t say I had to…”

“Okay, well you _have_ to let me wear it before you give it back then.”

“I’m not giving it back! He gave it to me!”

Ned just shook his head and bent down to scoop up the scattered Legos. Peter meanwhile, grabbed his phone and hurriedly sent Mr. Stark a text.

_mr stark do u want ur shirt back_

**What?**

_the cat shirt i took do u want it back_

**Oh that. Wait, is it the Siamese or the tabby?**

_siamese_

**Ok, you can keep it then if you want.**

_ill treasure it mr stark thnk u_

**Kid, please.**

The last message was accompanied by a facepalm emoji, which made the smile already on Peter’s face widen to an absurd degree. He was definitely rubbing off a little on Mr. Stark if he was using emojis now.

He opted to wait to tell Ned that the shirt was officially his as he planted himself on the floor to help clean up the Lego mess.

He didn’t care how much crap he was going to get from Flash or anyone else for wearing a cat shirt. He was going to wear it all the time from then on.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's short but silly. Sorry for how long it took to write this!

“Mr. Stark, I won’t be able to come to the compound next weekend.”

That made Tony raise his eyebrows and lower his coffee mug with a disbelieving look. Considering that Peter often tried to invite himself over when it wasn’t a weekend he was supposed to go upstate, Peter could understand the skepticism. Still, he tried to play it casual as he ate his Stark Raving Hazelnuts—a little chalky but still delicious—and watched contestants on Nailed It try, and fail miserably, to recreate a Thor cake.

“Oh? And why not?”

“Well, there’s this new girl at school, Gwen, who’s interested in joining our decathlon team and I offered to tell her more about it, so we’re going to meet up next week.”

Tony gave him an odd look, but he nodded slowly and sipped at his coffee again. “A girl, huh…”

Peter spared Tony a glance as he got up and walked away with that same odd look on his face, but then he turned back to the monitor in time to see the fondant face of a contestant’s Thor cake literally melt off the chocolate cake base. It was too bad, since that was the cake that Peter liked the most.

He only barely registered when Tony came back in and threw something into his lap, which he absentmindedly picked up as he set his ice cream to the side. It took a moment for it to sink in, but when it did his face went up in flames.

“Mr. Stark, what—it’s not like that!!”

Tony plopped down on the couch, grabbing the ice cream that Peter had set aside, and raised an eyebrow. “Safe sex is no joke, kid. Better to be prepared.”

“We’re not—oh my god.” He dropped the condom and buried his burning face in his hands. He wanted to take back the ice cream and shove his face in it, though he was certain it would evaporate instantly if he did. “Why would you even?”

“Well, kid, when a man and woman—or in your case, two teenagers—love each other very much—”

That was enough for Peter to look up in a panic, waving his arms wildly to stop whatever Tony was about to say. “Mr. Stark, Ben and May _both_ already gave me that talk, I really don’t want to get it from you, too.”

There was a hint of amusement in Tony’s eyes, but he looked as disinterested as ever, which made the whole thing even more humiliating. Tony took a bite of the ice cream and shrugged. “Suit yourself. You’ll thank me later for that gift, though.”

He gestured to the condom Peter had dropped on the floor, which Peter looked at in terror before trying to give Tony his best emphatic look.

“Seriously, Mr. Stark, it’s not like that! We’re just going to talk for a bit and then meet up with the rest of the decathlon team later!”

Tony paused as he lifted the spoon to his mouth, and he gave Peter another odd look. “The rest of the team, eh?”

“Yes! That’s all it is!”

Tony nodded and handed off the ice cream as he stood up again. “Ah, my mistake. Sorry, kid.”

He left again, and Peter ran a hand over his still warm face as he sighed. As the mortification ebbed away, a new episode featured a Spider-Man cookie that Peter hoped would turn out okay, unlike the Thor cakes of the previous episode. He was just getting back into the calm contentment he’d felt before when Tony returned and tossed a box at him.

“Here, give these to everyone. Just because it’s an orgy doesn’t mean it’s safe.”

Peter wouldn’t have minded if spontaneous combustion was a thing that really happened, because it was a full box of condoms in his lap that time. He choked on the ice cream as he pitched his entire body forward to hide his face between his knees.

“Mr. Stark, please!”


	4. Chapter 4

Tony enjoyed watching Peter spend a lot of time taking videos with his phone that he turned into silly little vlogs for himself, but it was only after he caught Peter spending a long time staring at an ad in the Daily Bugle asking for freelance photos of Spider-Man that he got an idea.

He knew that Peter was skittish about expensive gifts and insisted that the suits were way more than enough and he’d pay Tony back somehow someday, but that didn’t stop Peter’s eyes from lighting up when Tony presented him with a professional camera. He started to reach out for it, but he pulled back his hands as if snapping out of a trance.

“Mr. Stark, this is way too much! I can’t accept this!”

Tony shrugged and further shoved the box towards Peter, who stared at it with barely concealed longing. “Call it payment for all the work you’ve done. You’ve done really well.”

Peter bit his lip, obviously having trouble restraining himself, but he stubbornly held back. “But just being able to work with you is payment enough—!”

Tony held up a hand to interrupt him before he could go off on some hero worship tangent again, and he closed his eyes and shook his head. “Kid. Don’t. This is seriously the least I can do for all you’ve done for me.”

After a few more moments of biting his lip, Peter took the camera box out of Tony’s hands and tore into it. It didn’t take long before he had it set up and was taking pictures left and right, including some very uncomfortable closeups right in Tony’s face. He chuckled at Peter’s enthusiasm anyway, and when Peter had finally had enough and sat down to tinker with the settings, Tony relaxed next to him with a smile.

“Now you can do that freelance photography for the Daily Bugle, eh?”

Peter briefly looked up from the camera and stared owlishly at Tony before he dropped his head again. “You think they’d actually accept photos from a kid?”

“You’re not really a kid, Pete.” He paused to sigh as Peter smiled triumphantly at him. “And anyway, who else can get up close and personal with Spider-Man for all the best shots?”

“Yeah, maybe I’ll give it a try. The worst they can say is no, right? Then I can help May out a little.”

Tony’s heart warmed at how Peter’s thoughts immediately went to the selfless desire to help out his aunt, and he ruffled Peter’s hair with a grin as he stood to get a cup of coffee.

It didn’t take long for Peter to join him in the kitchen, still fiddling with the camera, and Tony slid onto a bar stool to watch him.

“You gotta let me know if that Jameson guy gives you any crap, though. Say the word and I’ll buy that paper and fire his ass.”

Peter briefly looked up again and wrinkled his nose. “Mr. Stark, you can’t buy the paper and fire him just because he hates Spider-Man.”

Tony took a sip of his coffee, turning away from Peter to think to himself that he really wouldn’t mind doing just that.


End file.
